22 
THE NATURALIST AND COLLECTOR 
A Study of Wildcats. 
W ILDCATS, even here in the 
forests of the Atlantic slope’ 
are more abundant than is 
generally supposed. They 
have learned to dread man and to keep 
out of his sight and hearing, and away 
from the keen scent of his trained 
hounds; hence they are seldom seen. 
But all our broader forests, even those 
within fifty miles of the great cities, 
include among" their wild population a 
fair percentage of felts rufus , as the 
zoologists call him. Surpassing even 
the wily fox in secretiveness, the wild¬ 
cat, if he were not possessed of a cer¬ 
tain courage and independence, espec¬ 
ially when feeding", would be almost 
as common in our forests as the ground 
squirrel. 
With a fur quite valuable to the trap¬ 
per, and with too great readiness to 
walk into a baited snare or to take to a 
tree when hunted by hounds, he is 
much more likely than the fox to fall 
before the hunter’s rifle. He is, at the 
same time, more sensitive than Reyn¬ 
ard to the encroachments of man upon 
his chosen haunts. He more boldly at¬ 
tacks the farmer's fowls or sheep, el¬ 
even his small calves; and, having- 
killed his prey he often stands by it de¬ 
fiantly until discovered and shot. These 
characteristics of wildcats account for 
the fact that they are becoming far less 
numerous near our older settlements. 
The ability of this animal to elude 
the observation of man, when not feed¬ 
ing, is truly wonderful. He once 
learned to fear the Indian, who could 
send from a distance a sharp-pointed 
arrow into his vitals. How much more 
must he dread the white hunter’s long- 
range rifle! Conscious of his own 
prowess, and relying upon his formid¬ 
able equipment of claws and teeth, he 
knows at the same time that he is no 
matcti for that other destructive crea¬ 
ture, who walks erect through the for¬ 
est with a powder-and-lead-loaded 
weapon over his shoulder. 
Indeed, the wildcat shares this feel¬ 
ing with every other brute inhabitant 
of the forest. But, unlike many of 
them, when suddenly approached by 
the hunter, he disdains a precipitate 
and cowardly flight, and only trots 
leisurely to the nearest brush and 
crouches there within a few paces of 
his enemy. Or perhaps he springs in¬ 
to the fancied security of a tree, not 
realizing the far-reaching and death¬ 
dealing power of the rifle. Whatever 
his retreat may be, he must turn more 
than once and look back with cat-like 
stare at his pursuer, and then is the 
deadly shot delivered. 
But, except on these rare occasions, 
the wildcat remains entirely out 
of man’s sight and hearing. His 
crouching attitudes, his gray-mottled 
and reddish-brown coat, closely resem¬ 
bling in general color his background 
of dead leaves and mossy rocks, render 
him invisible so long as he remains 
motionless. 
Observe our domestic puss when 
prowling in the garden, intent on bird 
hunting, and notice how skillfully she 
manages to keep out of sight and hear¬ 
ing. Every movement is made with 
the utmost caution, every advantage of 
ground or veg’etation is. made use of, 
every disadvantage is estimated, and, 
if possible, avoided. Yet this is a 
creature in whose veins flows the blood 
of many generations of household pets, 
and from whose nature much of the 
original wildness has been eradicated. 
The wildcat is tenfold more cautious 
and watchful, and when we consider 
